Means for identifying warp yarn knots



March 1956' E. w. ODELL MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING WARP YARN KNOTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 12, 1953 IN V EN TOR.

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MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING WARP YARN KNOTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 12, 1953 FI' CZ INVENTOR.

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United States Patent MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING WARP YARN KN OTS Ernest W. Odell, Chester, S. C., assignor to The Springs Cotton Mills, a corporation of South Carolina Application January 12, 1953, Serial No. 330,761

1 Claim. (Cl. 24235.6)

This invention relates generally to the preparation and handling of warp yarns in the course of weaving cloth, and more particularly to a uniquely effective means and method for identifying in woven cloth the yarn knots that must be formed in the warp yarns as they are prepared for use in the weaving operation.

As is well known, warp yarns are characteristically supplied in a weaving operation from a warp beam that is formed ultimately as the result of a basic creeling step at which the warp yarns are first wound in beam form from so-called warp spools. These warp spools are in turn commonly formed on Barber-Colman Spoolers, an early and basic disclosure of which is contained in Colman Patent No. 1,175,710.

The Barber-Colman Spooler is essentially a machine adapted for winding a plurality of yarn ends or threads into spools suitable for creeling, and in which a corresponding plurality of thread clamps are arranged for supporting reserve threads in the path of a traveller mechanism that is operable for tying in a reserve thread to a broken active end on any of said spools in order to complete the winding thereof to desired size. Each time a reserve thread is tied in by the traveller mechanism a knot of course results in the yarn end being wound to form the warp spool, and this knot eventually appears in the woven cloth formed therefrom. The detection and removal of these knots from the woven cloth during subsequent inspection has previously constituted a very troublesome and tedious operation, because the knots are extremely difiicult to locate in the woven cloth.

According to the present invention there is now provided a means and method by which the knots may be identified beforehand as the warp spools are being formed to allow quick and easy detection in the cloth at the inspection stage. Briefly characterized, this is done according to the present invention by applying a fugitive dye marking in identifying relation to the yarn knots as they are formed in winding the yarn spools, which marking will later disappear as a matter of course in the finishing of the woven fabrics after they have been inspected and corrected for the knots.

The fugitive dye marking is applied in this manner according to the present invention by means carried on the traveller mechanism for the spooler so that the marking is effected on the reserve threads in spaced relation to the spooler thread clamps and thereby assumes a fixed relation to each yarn knot that is tied. The fugitive dye markings applied in this manner can easily be made to have a distinctive and readily recognized appearance in the woven fabric serving to flag the location of yarn knots very effectively.

These and other features of the present invention are described in further detail below in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the form of a spooling machine of the type referred to above, and showing a fugitive dye applicator installed thereon in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the spooler traveller mechanism showing the arrangement of the fugitive dye applicator more in detail.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly at first to Fig. 1, a warp spool winding machine such as has previously been mentioned above is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, and the plurality of warp spools being wound are represented at 12, it being understood that these spools 12 are automatically shiftable between a running position (inwardly of the machine) during active winding and a down position (outwardly of the machine) upon breaking of the active thread being wound.

The traveller mechanism, by which the warp spools 12 in the down position are operated on for tying in a reserve thread and returning them to running position to resume winding, is indicated generally at 14, and the reserve threads are shown at 16 supported by the thread clamps 18 in the path of the traveller mechanism 14, which will move forwardly (i. e., to the right) as seen in Fig. 1 for the above stated purpose. This manner of operation of the spooler 10 is a matter of such common knowledge that it is not believed to need further description here, reference being made again to the above noted Colman Patent No. 1,175,710 for any fuller disclosure thereof desired.

There is also represented generally in Fig. 1 at 20 a fugitive dye applicator or marking means arranged on the traveller mechanism 14 in accordance with the present invention, this arrangement being shown in further detail in Fig. 2 as comprising a fugitive dye supply container 22 suitably provided in the form of a transparent reservoir from which a gravity head of the fugitive dye supply as at 24 may be maintained above a feed line 26 fitted for dispensing a marking quantity of the fugitive dye 24. Any fugitive dye that is suitably non-tenacious so that it will disappear readily during usual textile fabric finishing operations may be used for the supply 24, although the particular fugitive dye selected should of course have an adequate pigment character adapting it to serve as an apparent identification marking.

The feed line 26 from the supply container 22 is fitted for dispensing the fugitive dye supply 24 by means of an adjustable valve or petcock 28 allowing the flow from the container 22 to be regulated, and by a wick element 30 arranged at the terminal end of the feed line 26 for actually preforming the marking operation.

For marking purposes, the fugitive dye applicator 20 in general, and the wick element 30 at the terminal end of the feed line 26, are disposed in a leading position on the traveller 14 as seen in both Figs. 1 and 2, it being remembered that the operating movement of the traveller 14 is to the right in both views. Also, the feed line 26 is disposed on the traveller 14 so that the wick element 30 at the terminal thereof brushes the reserve threads 16 while they are supported by the thread clamps 18 and applies a fugitive dye marking thereto (as indicated at M in Fig. 2) in spaced relation to the thread clamps 18 before the traveller 14 operates to tie in any one of the reserve threads 16.

The result is that the applied markings M, being in regularly spaced relation to the thread clamps 18, will necessarily assume a regularly spaced relation to the yarn knot formed when any given reserve thread 16 is tied in. For example, when the fugitive dye markings M are applied about 6" below the thread clamps 18, the markings M will appear about 4" from the yarn knots in the warp spools 12. Consequently, when the inspection stage for the woven fabric is reached, it is not necessary to look for the knots but only for the readily identified markings M from which reference mark the adjacent knot can be easily located and corrected in the fabric either by cutting it out or pushing it through to the back iace, of the fabric de en in 1 199 t e nature requirementsfor 'r ticular fabric being dealt with.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration, only and is not intended to b i i d y t desar ti n o Qtb rw e e cep as defined n t e e ea ed a m- I claim:

In combination with a yarn winding machine of the type adapted for winding a plurality of Warp spools and having thread clamps for supporting reserve threads, a traveller mechanism that operable for tying in a reserve thre ad upon breaking of the active thread being Wound on any of said spools, means carried by said traveller for applying a fugitive dye marking to said reserve threads to identify yarn knots subsequently formed therein n id Wins in Said means pmprising a fugitive dye supply container, and a feed line from said cont mer h v its am lial seawe it wi k ele e for disp'ensirig a marking quantity of said fugitive dye, the er na and 9f a d 999 1111? bein dam el in a e d n position on said traveller for applying to each of said reserve threads in advance of tying in a distinguishable fugitive dye mark in spaced relation to said thread clamps, whereby said mark remains distinguishable in corresponding spaced relation with respect to yarn knots formed in said reserve threads by tying in.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,622,607 Peterson Mar. 29,, 1927 2,058,962 Drake Oct. 27, 1936 2,393,973 Chisholm Feb. 5, 1946 2,411,243 Beckman Nov. 19, 1946 2,448,773 Clark Sept. 7, 1948 

